BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

adriangr "Auntie Roo" is marketed a a "crazy old dame" movie, but it's very confusing in it's intentions. Here we have Shelley Winters playing a batty old lady with a large mansion, who likes to invite children across for parties to ease her loneliness. Unfortunately two of the children get a bit nosey and Auntie Roo's dark secrets come tumbling out. What's wrong here is that the plot doesn't really give the viewer any clearly defined direction. The film uses the Hansel and Gretel fable as a parallel, and the constant reference to this subject matter does get a bit silly. Auntie Roo is not the witch that the children think she is, in fact the children terrorise her more than she does them. Maybe that was the twist that they were going for but I don't know if the story is supposed to paint the poor, misguided Roo as the villain, or the annoying children. It's all over the place. Who are you supposed to like? Nobody? Shelley Winters does a good job of acting here, but sadly the two children (Mark Lester and Chloe Franks) do not. I can't imagine anyone coming away at the end of this film feeling satisfied.

Lee Eisenberg Curtis Harrington had just directed Shelley Winters in the sinister "What's the Matter with Helen?", and so he brought her back for the equally sinister "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?". Unlike the first movie, this one doesn't look at moral gray areas. Instead it goes straight for the jugular, riffing on Hansel and Gretel with Winters in the role of the witch (who in this case is simply a disturbed woman keeping her late daughter's skeleton preserved). It's a pretty fun movie, corny though it is. Easily better than the other movie in which Winters starred that year (the obnoxious "Poseidon Adventure").So yes, can you hear your daughter's voice?

Syl I love Shelley Winters in this film as the demented Auntie Roo, the widow of a British magician. In this film, she plays a haunted troubled woman whose daughter died in a terrible accident. She wants to be a mother again and finds herself drawn to a girl who resembles her own late daughter. There are lot of interesting scenes and Shelley Winters is a scream in this film with her part. You feel sorry for her but despise what she's doing to Katy and Christopher, young British orphans, who end up being Hansel and Gretel in this story. The ending was kind of disturbing and the kids reminded me more of the boy in the Omen film at times. It's a first rate cast with Shelley Winters, Ralph Richardson, Judy Cornwell, and Marianne Stone just to name a few well known British actors in the cast. I would like to see it again especially since I missed the beginning portion of it. I found it terribly entertaining even a good Halloween movie to show.

bensonmum2 Auntie Roo is crazy. The opening scenes leave little to the imagination as to her mental state. The movie begins with Auntie Roo singing a lullaby to a little girl. As she finishes her song, the camera goes to a close-up of the child sleeping in bed. But there is no child. Only the mummified remains of what was once Auntie Roo's daughter.Before I saw the movie, I had thought and hoped that with Shelly Winters playing the crazy Auntie Roo the movie would be a fun watch. But it doesn't live up to its potential. My biggest problem with Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? is that it never goes far enough in showing how mad Auntie Roo is. It's as if Auntie Roo's madness is allowed to reach a certain point and the director pulls it back in. That's not to say there aren't some moments of fun to be had watching the crazy Auntie Roo racing around the house in her morning clothes, complete with black veil. But there aren't enough of these moments. The only thing that might have saved Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? would have been to allow things to go over the top and into the realm of camp and absurdity. As it is, it's all too tame and rather dull.Another thing that might have helped the movie would have been to reveal just how insane Auntie Roo is later in the movie. Unfortunately, we see Auntie Roo at her most batty right from the beginning. Once you've seen Auntie Roo put the mummified body of her child to bed, you aren't really shocked at some of the other things she's capable of. Saving the revelation to end would have created the opportunity for more surprises and tension throughout the movie.